Attributed

Imperial Tomes and Chapter Mottos

Without the Dark, there can be no Light,We have purposeWithout the Lie, there can be no Truth,We have purposeWithout the War, there can be no Victory,We have purposeWithout the Death, there can be no sacrifice,We have purposeWithout the Hope there can be no Future,We have purposeWithout the Loyalty there can be no one chapter,We have purposeWithout the Emperor, there is nothing,...And we would have no purpose

At battle's end, speak the Liturgy in a clear voice. Respect the bravery of the living. Give the Rite of Passage to the fallen. Honour the battle gear of the dead. To do all this with reverence, even when exhausted by battle and weary from the field, is the duty of a Chaplain. It is his burden and satisfaction.

During the righteous pacification of the heretical insurgence on Iduno, Lysander (at the time still a sergeant) bravely led his squad in the stubborn defence of the Colonial Bridge. For fourteen hours Lysander and his men held against wave after wave of attacks by the hateful rebels who had forsworn the glorious Emperor of Mankind for the False Glories of the Fallen Gods. Well versed in the Rites of Battle, Lysander guided his men surely and strongly, bringing the vengeance of the Emperor in volleys of controlled, effective bolter fire. When Lysander and the survivors of his squad were relieved, it took several hours to clear the corpses of the shadow-shrouded recreants so the bridge could be crossed.

'Leaders Of The Adeptus Astartes', A Most Secret Report, Compiled For His Most Supreme Excellency The Paternoval Envoy By His Humble Servant Master Maximus Pliny

Marneus Augustus Calgar is the renowned master of the Ultramarines, and his countless exploits while defeating the enemies of the Emperor (may his divine light always guide us) have earned him no small measure of fame throughout the Imperium. In particular, his stubborn defence and ultimate crushing defeat of the Tyranids during the 1st Tyrannic War has become the stuff of legend amongst the more vulgar elements of the population on those planets that owe allegiance to the Ultramarines. But fame and glory ever begets jealousy and spite, and these heroic tales, fuelled by Marneus' fierce (some might say intractable) pride, has earned him and his brethren many high-ranking enemies. While I can find no direct evidence, it seems probable that these enemies engineered the now infamous Court of Inquiry into Marneus' actions during the suppression of the uprising on Colony Beta//54, where Marneus was quite rightly exonerated of all charges, if his excellency will allow me to put forward my own, very humble, opinion. Recent reports that Marneus was slain during the defence of Ichar IV appear to be based upon nothing but base rumour and tawdry gossip, and all the reliable evidence I have found indicates the he continues to lead the Ultramarines to this day.

The final destination on my Warrior Pilgrimage to Rynn's World was my voyage to the Jadeberry Hill Necropolis. Upon that blasted knoll are to be found hundreds of hand-carved headstones, each one a memorial to a fellow battle brother of the Crimson Fists. Each stone is engraved with the battle honours of a hero whose mortal remains will never be recovered, his sacrifice an example to us all. I lingered at that bleak place for a day and a night, meditating upon the foes I had defeated and the terrible battles I had fought to return here and atone for my weakness. Come the morn, I was struck by a revelation. Though many of them had died here, my brethren had prevailed in the face of adversity. I would strive to emulate their example and prove myself worthy of the trust placed in me by my Chapter.

Where there is uncertainty, I shall bring lightWhere there is doubt, I shall sow faithWhere there is shame, I shall point atonementWhere there is rage, I shall show its courseMy word in the soul shall be as my bolter in the field.

The Space Wolves revere the Emperor as the greatest warrior of all time, the only being to have ever bested Leman Russ in hand-to-hand combat. When Space Wolves call upon Russ or the Emperor in battle, it is to witness the deeds of men and to judge the fallen.

What is your life?My honour is my life.What is your fate?My duty is my fate.What is your fear?My fear is to fail.What is your reward?My salvation is my reward.What is your craft?My craft is death.What is your pledge?My pledge is eternal service

We do not know what our chances of survival are, so we fight as if they were zero. We do not know what we are facing, so we fight as if it was the dark gods themselves. No one will remember us now and we may never be buried beneath Titan, so we will build our own memorial here. The Chapter might lose us and the Imperium might never know we existed, but the Enemy - the Enemy will know. The Enemy will remember. We will hurt it so badly that it will never forget us until the stars burn out and the Emperor vanquishes it at the end of time. When Chaos is dying, its last thought will be of us. That is our memorial - carved into the heart of Chaos. We cannot lose, Grey Knights. We have already won.

You had to use the whole Trail. Saint Evisser, the cardinals, every single citizen, you had to move them all into position to beat us. Remember that. You put your plan in motion before the Trail even existed, because you knew it would take nothing less. We made you work, daemon. You feared us so much you had to move star systems to make us dance to your tune.

The uniforms of the Imperial Guard are camouflaged in order to protect their wearers by hiding them from sight.

The principle is that what the enemy cannot see he cannot kill. This is not the way of the Adeptus Astartes. A Space Marine’s armour is bright with heraldry that proclaims his devotion to his Chapter and the beloved Emperor of Mankind. Our principle is that what the enemy can see, he will soon learn to fear…

I was on Prospero, brothers. I was there when we burned their heresy from the galaxy. I saw Leman Russ lay waste to their cherished places. I saw Traitors weep from corrupted eyes as we turned their pyramids of glass into barren wasteland. That will not happen here. They were made weak by the knowledge of their treachery. We are made strong by the knowledge of our fidelity. Where Tizca fell, the Aett will stand. Though it may cost the lives of us all, the Aett will stand.-during the Battle of the Fang

"Lead us from death to victory, from falsehood to truth.Lead us from despair to hope, from faith to slaughter.Lead us to His strength and an eternity of war.Let His wrath fill our hearts.Death, war, and blood; in vengeance serve the Emperor and the name of Dorn!" - "Suffer not the Unclean to live", prayer and vow of the Black Templars

"Trust in the Emperor at the hour of battle.Trust to him to intercede, and protect his warriors true as they deal death on alien soil.Turn their seas to red with the blood of their slain.Crush their hopes, their dreamsAnd turn their songs into cries of lamentation." - "Uphold the honour of the Emperor", vow of the Black Templars

"Smite now the scions of the Witch!Grant us the strength to pierce their unclean flesh!To cover their fields with the pale form of the blasphemous dead!To drown the thunder of guns with the shriek of their dying!To lay waste to their citadels with hurricanes of fire!To wring the hearts of their kin with unavailing grief! To send them into the waste of their desolate land in rags and hunger, broken in spirit, worn with travail and begging for the refuge of the grave.We ask it, in the spirit of wrath, O Master of Mankind!" - "Abhor the Witch, Destroy the Witch", prayer and vow of the Black Templars

"O Emperor, in wrath rejoicing at bloody wars, fierce and untamed,whose mighty power doth make the strongest walls from their foundations shake.All-conquering Master of Mankind, be pleased with this war's tumultuous roar.Delight in swords and fists red with alien blood, and the dire ruins of savage battle.Rejoice in furious challenge, and avenging strife, whose works with woe embitter human life!" - "Accept any challenge, no matter the odds", prayer and vow of the Black Templars

The Machine is strong. We must purge the weak, hated flesh and replace it with the blessed purity of metal. Only through permanence can we truly triumph, only through the Machine can we find victory. Punish the flesh. Iron in mind and body. Hail the Machine!

Damnation starts with little steps, by arrogantly thinking that you are wiser than our great forbears, by tinkering with truth, by compromising, by departing from the straight and narrow path of the Emperor’s light.

Know this, son of Guilliman. The father of our Chapter watches over us always. He knows your soul, your strengths and, aye, even your fears. I share your pain at the loss of Brother-Captain Idaeus, but to dishonour his name with grief is wrong. He gave his life so that his battle-brothers would live and the enemies of the Emperor would be defeated. A warrior can ask for no better death than that. Captain Idaeus was the senior officer, and you were duty bound to follow his orders when they were given. The chain of command must not be broken or we are nothing. Discipline and order are everything on the battlefield and the army that lives by that credo will always triumph. - to Uriel Ventris, shortly after his promotion to captaincy of the 4th Company

You all heard Varro's words. The daemon is vulnerable, exposed, and we have one chance to end this. Right here and right now, the fate of Ultramar is in our hands. You are the best and bravest of your Chapter, and though we may die in these mountains, we will die in service to something greater than blood, something greater than land. We fight for what we know is right. I will lead you in that fight, and all I ask is that you fight like the heroes you are! - rallying the survivors of the Ultramarines1st Company on Talassar, for a final charge against the Daemon PrinceM'kar

Only a madman knows no fear. A warrior knows what fear is, he feels it in his stomach, he understands fear better than any other mortal can. What makes us strong is that we have conquered fear, overcome it not once but many times, over and over again, until the process has become instinctive. but no matter how many battles you fight and how many victories you win, your fear will never completely leave you. Learn to live with that fear. Learn to master your fear. But never forget that there are things in this universe that even you cannot face and live, abominations so terrible that their very appearance will sear the flesh from your face and shrivel your eyes. Such things cannot be fought, and to confront them would be nothing but a futile waste of life. In those situations remember your vows to serve the Emperor, and remember also that you serve him best alive and not sacrificed upon the altar of vain glory.

What is the terror of death? That we die with our work incomplete. What is the joy of life? To die knowing our task is done. I stand alongside warriors of honour, and the warrior who acts out of honour cannot fail. His duty is honour itself. Even a warrior's death--if it is honourable--is a reward and can be no failure, for it has come through duty. Seek honour as you act, and you will know no fear. A fortress is a living thing: the commander its brain, the walls its bones, the sensors its eyes and ears, the troops its blood, their weapons its fists. If one organ fails, the whole dies. And if the whole dies, no single organ can survive alone. And above all, remember this... for a warrior the only crime is cowardice.

Camouflage is the colour of fear... I have no need to hide from my foes... I have no fear of death. My colours I wear openly, they proclaim louder than any words, "I am proud to live - I am proud to die".

They are an effective force in their way, and I do not doubt the Emperor's wisdom in allowing tainted subhuman filth to serve Him. But my men shall not be exposed to the corruption of these beasts. – on Beastmen

D

For eleven hundred years, I have fought and I have seen the darkness in our galaxy. I have seen the vileness of the alien and the heresy of the mutant. I have witnessed the sin of possession. I have seen all the evil that the galaxy harbours, and I have slain all whose presence defiles the Emperor. I have seen what you will see. I have fought what you must fight, and I have slain what you must slay... so fear not and be proud, for we are the sons of Sanguinius, the protectors of Mankind. Aye, we are indeed the Angels of Death.

You will fight in the streets, and in the habs! You will fight for the enemy's death, not your own lives! You will fight and you will drive this alien filth from the Emperor's city. You will do these things, or you will face my wrath.

The Emperor has no like, Loken. There are no gods in this hollow universe to keep him company. So he made us, demi-gods, to stand beside him. I have never quite come to terms with my status. Does that surprise you? I see what I am capable of, and what is expected of me, and I shudder. The mere fact of me frightens me sometimes.

If there is nobility remaining within Konrad's Legion, then it is hidden deeply beneath too many layers of twisted lusts, deviance, and disobedience. Their ways are foolish, ill-considered and a hindrance to the orderly flow of controlled war. The time is coming when the Night Lords must answer for their behaviour and be brought back into the doctrine of Imperial warfare, lest we lose them to their own deviant hungers.

There is no enemy. The foe on the battlefield is merely the manifestation of that which we must overcome. He is doubt, and fear, and despair. Every battle is fought within. Conquer the battlefield that lies inside you, and the enemy disappears like the illusion he is.-Attributed

E

They shall be my finest warriors, these men who give of themselves to me. Like clay I shall mould them, and in the furnace of war forge them. They will be of iron will and steely muscle. In great armour shall I clad them and with the mightiest guns will they be armed. They will be untouched by plague or disease, no sickness will blight them. They will have tactics, strategies and machines so that no foe can best them in battle. They are my bulwark against the Terror. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Marines and they shall know no fear. – on the Creation of the Space Marines.

Kinsmen, we are being tested. We cannot know what madness has overcome Lorgar, we do not know the fate of our brothers and our primarch. But what we do know is duty. Our duty is to hold this approach to the city, to deny it to the enemy. These were Guilliman's last words to us. Meles gave his life in service of that command, and if called, then so shall we.-during the Battle of Calth

Bravery is stronger than Adamantium. One is the stuff of the soul-forges, the other an illusion of safety created by fools. Adamantium walls cannot keep us out! We have the courage of the Emperor! And in the Emperor's name... ATTACK!! ATTACK!! NO PRISONERS!! – during Operation Carthage (the second pacification of Isstvan V)

Do you ever go into a fight thinking there's no point giving my best, I'll get another chance later? We only ever get one shot, Marlin. Life is one shot. Making it count is all that matters. – on Shadrac to Sergeant Marlin of the Xth Slavok Regiment

Let a wave of repugnance for the enemy wash over you. Let hatred fill you. Hate is good, for our goal is a Human galaxy. We are called by the Emperor with a sacred duty to conquer it in His name. – at the Sermon of Harnoth

Logan Grimnar, Bloody-Handed WarriorHe piles the skulls of his enemiesHe builds a mound of the fallenHis foes weep rivers of bloodLogan Grimnar, strong wolf of the packHis Sword hungers for red fleshHis guns thirst for battleHe laughs amidst the war-dinLogan Grimnar, father of wolvesHis sons haunt his enemiesSlay them where they falterAnd bring their pelts to Fenris. - from The Saga Of The Old Wolf (excerpt)

The warrior who acts out of honour cannot fail. His duty is honour itself. Even his death - if it is honourable - is a reward and can be no failure, for it has come through duty. Seek honour as you act, therefore, and you will know no fear.

Let them bestride the galaxy like the gods of old, sheltering Mankind from destruction at the hands of an uncaring universe. - from the teachings of Guilliman, as laid down in the Apocrypha of Skaros, on the Space Marines

Space Marines excel at warfare because they were designed to excel at everything. Each of you will become a leader, a ruler, the master of your world and, because there is no more fighting to be done, you will bend your transhuman talents to governance and culture. - shortly before the Battle of Calth

Two things to note there, Sergeant. One is that there is no such thing as a minor detail. Information is victory. One cannot and should not dismiss any data until one is in a position to evaluate its significance, and that only comes with hindsight. So all detail is important until circumstances render it redundant.

My brother, hear me. Warriors of the XVII Legion, hear me. This violence is against the code of the Legiones Astartes and against the will of our father, the Emperor. In the name of the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar, I implore you to cease fire and stand down. Open communication with me. Let us speak. Let us settle this. This action is an error of the most tragic kind. Cease fire. I, Roboute Guilliman, give you my solemn pledge that we will deal with each other frankly and fairly if these hostilities can be suspended. I urge you to respond. - vox transmission, Battle of Calth, Mark 0.00.01

Lorgar of Colchis. You may consider the following. One: I entirely withdraw my previous offer of solemn ceasefire. It is cancelled, and will not be made again, to you or to any other of your motherless bastards. Two: you are no longer any brother of mine. I will find you, I will kill you, and I will hurl your toxic corpse into hell's mouth. - vox transmission, Battle of Calth, Mark 1.57.42

They shall be pure of heart and strong of body, untainted by doubt and unsullied by self-aggrandisement. They will be bright stars on the firmament of battle, Angels of Death whose shining wings bring swift annihilation to the enemies of Man. So it shall be for a thousand times for a thousand years, unto the very end of eternity and the extinction of mortal flesh.Codex Astartes opening

Within dark and forgotten places hide the enemies of the Emperor. You have been chosen to enter such places and, protected by the best armour the Adeptus Mechanicus can provide, cleanse it. Take with you weapons, a valiant heart and the Emperor's blessing, and engage the enemy where it makes its lair. Acknowledge death as it approaches, but do not succumb to its touch, for your purpose is great. You have proved yourselves to be worthy of the status you now hold. Every one of you standing here, all of whom have declared allegiance to the Emperor and take his will as your guide, have shown your courage and have been rewarded for it. Those that stand before me, I charge you now, go forth and vanquish the foe. – Sermon to Terminator Squads before the attack on Thain II

Fenrisians are taught to value comradeship and loyalty to their tribes from birth. Within the Space Wolves, their loyalty is given to their Wolf Lord and the Company of his followers. As warrior-barbarians they set great store by personal bravery and great deeds, having little but contempt for authority that is bestowed rather than earned through the proven virtues of combat.

The Emperor extends His will to us when we destroy the wicked and impure to reconquer the galaxy in His name. The Emperor leads the galaxy to righteousness, and thus we must petition for His judgement on the wicked... for it is judgement without mercy. – addressing his warriors prior to the Cleansing of Gemenon Majoris

The Space Wolves have already proven their ability to stave off the most determined attacks on their realm, so overt action is out of the question. However, I believe that it is imperative that they are closely monitored for signs of abomination.

Of all the Primarchs, the end of Leman Russ is the most mysterious, for he is accounted to have vanished ten thousand years ago. One of the most fundamental of the Space Wolves' tenets is the belief that their Primarch will eventually return for the final battle at the end of the universe.

-Why do you weep? Is it for us?-For him, Nathaniel, because he can't. Today you and I have broken a brother's heart, and nothing will ever mend it.-after showing proof of Horus's treachery on Isstvan III to Rogal Dorn

Why, if it isn’t Brother Marius. The injuries from the last training exercise have healed well I see. And that new bionic eye should prove most useful for this next exercise. Tell me, how many hours have you had on Land Speeders up to now?

All was lost. The Xenos scum, who smashed us for two days straight, were hurtling towards us again. We readied ourselves for death. And then Death came. Ten Space Marines appeared in the midst of the alien swarm. They were all in black and they set about the foe with the very fury of the Emperor himself! They saved us, and the whole damned Imperial line. – after the recapturing of Heliad VII

This day shall be our day of reckoning. Look not to the shame of the past, but to the glory of the future. We shall wash away the stain of our dishonour in the hot blood of our enemies. – address to the warriors of the Varl Crusade

That's why you summoned us here. To know where we came from is to know where we are and where we are going.You do not say much, Pasanius Lysane, but when you speak, it is worthwhile to listen.I'm a sergeant, my lord. It's what I do.-to Chief LibrarianVarro Tigurius

M

If they are so eager to die, and they will not heed the advice of their superiors, then let them rush headlong into the jaws of the lion. We can only hope some of them get caught in its throat.-on the Space Wolves

They are not my hands. This fact is forgotten by my brothers - inexplicably, it has always seemed to me. The hands are strong, to be sure, and have created great things for us all, but they are not mine. And that counts for something. They forget that the silver on my arms comes from a beast that I vanquished. It is the mark of a great evil that I ended, and yet it persists within me... I would struggle to remove it now... I will not remove the silver from my flesh because I have learned to depend on it. The fault is with my mind. I rely on the augmentation given to me by my metal gauntlets, so much so that the flesh beneath them is now little more than a distant memory... A day will come when I will strip it from me, lest I lose the power to master myself forever. Already my Legion's warriors replace their shield hands with metal in my honour, and so they too are learning to doubt the natural strength of their bodies. They must be weaned off this practice before it becomes a mania for them. Hatred of what is natural, of what is human, is the first and greatest of the corruptions. So I record it here: when the time comes, I will strip my hands of their unnatural silver. I will instruct my Legion to recant their distrust of the flesh. I will turn then away from the gifts of the machine and bid them relearn the mysteries of flesh, bone and blood. When my father's Crusade is over, this shall be my sacred task. When the fighting is done, I shall cure my Legion and myself. For if fighting is all there is, if we may never pause to reflect on what such devotion to strength is doing to us, then our compulsion will only grow. Already I see the madness that path leads to, and so I shall excise the silver from my hands. In doing so I shall weaken myself and my sons, but nonetheless it must be done. The hands are strong, and have created great things, but they are not mine.-attributed

The duty of the Medic, my Brethren, is a sacred one. We embody the Emperor's divine will and his holy purpose. We bring death and we bring life. Let those true to Humanity's cause give thanks for our work. Let the impure bow down before our swords! – attributed to Markhava, distributed as an exemplary text after he died during the storming of the Bourne slave pits (2150982 M41)

N

As our bodies are armoured with Adamantium, our souls are protected with our loyalty. As our bolters are charged with death for the Emperor's enemies, our thoughts are charged with his wisdom. As our ranks advance, so does our devotion, for are we not Marines? Are we not the chosen of the Emperor, his loyal servants unto death? – an address to the defenders of Portrein

Some say that the Blood Angels are tainted: that they harbour a dark secret. I know this to be true. I have seen the infamous Death Company: wild-eyed and foam-mouthed berserkers who tear their enemies limb from limb, crush skulls with a single blow, snap spines and rip out inner organs. I have seen the Sanguinary Priests: the passing of blood filled chalices from lip to lip, heard their wracking lamentations of Sanguinus's death. I have watched their rituals: mighty warriors daubing their armour in the blood of their foes, heard them crying for vengeance against the enemies of the Emperor.

Oh, Proteus. You novices are all alike. And I'm the one who has to put you back together. It isn't combat I resent, Brother. It's the thirst for glory that gets men cut to ribbons.

Death will find you soon enough. War is not about glory. War is about victory!

May the Emperor bless and protect this sacred geneseed, so that the strength of these brave warriors may live on in Ultramarines yet unborn, by the abiding honour of our fortress on Macragge, in the name of the Chapter and the Primarch, to whom we owe all.-while applying his Reductor to fallen Marines

R

This place was built to destroy something precious to us, something each of us shares, no matter which Primarch or Chapter we call our own. I speak of brotherhood. Bile has isolated us, severed all but the most cursory of contacts. He sows distrust and suspicion, wears you down with the slow grind of mindless days and tormented nights. The bastard wants you to believe you are forgotten. He lies. I am here to tell you that he lies and lies! Look within yourselves, brothers, and you will understand. You have been waiting for this day, even if you did not know it. This day, when you are reminded of who you are. My purpose here is the same as yours, to serve the God-Emperor and Holy Terra! Know that each of you is the harbinger of your own freedom! I say to you all that this day, we are not Blood Angels, Doom Eagles, Space Wolves, Taurans, Salamanders, Crimson Fists... We are one great legion, one heart and one mind! We are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, the war gods and terrible swift sword of our Emperor! We are His will, and we have always been so!

-...The Sigillite's command be damned. You give me no recourse, Garro. And so, on my honour as a son of Macragge, I choose to defy it. Even if it means I will perish here, even if you colour me a rebel like Lorgar's turncoats, I defy it!-Rubio and Nathaniel Garro, during the Battle of Calth

Listen closely Brothers, for my life's breath is all but spent. There shall come a time far from now when our chapter itself is dying, even as I am now dying. Then my children, I shall list'n for your call from whatever realms of death hold me, and come I shall no-matter what laws of life and death forbid. At the end I will be there. For the final battle. For the Wolftime. – before his final departure into the Eye of Terror

Only in the Space Marines of the Legiones Astartes are courage and expertise perfectly blended. In other troops they are present in varying degrees and proportions, and many scholars have debated their relative merits.

For my own part, I come down on the side of courage. For courage can sometimes make a virtue of inexperience. I myself have commanded Imperial Guard troops whose probitor units have achieved great things, because they were too inexperienced to realise that their goal was impossible. – De Natura Belli, Book XIV

You strive for victory. That is obvious. What may be less obvious is the nature of victory. There are circumstances in which you can destroy the enemy utterly, without loss to your own forces, and yet the victory may be his. In all situations, you must first decide on the nature of victory, and then take steps to secure it. Avoid the instinct of fight first and think later. – attributed, Meditations, Book VI

There are those who undervalue the Penal Battalions. But they should consider this: should a man who has wronged the Emperor be allowed to wrong Him further? For each man executed is a man who can no longer serve, and to fail in service to the Emperor is the greatest of sins – Meditations on Imperial Command, Book XXI

Do not underestimate the Squats. They survived for millennia cut off from the Imperium and assailed from all sides. Their determination and resilience is an example to all. – Meditations on Imperial Command, Book XVI

Harden your soul against decadence. But do not despise it, for the soft appearance of the decadent may be deceptive. One need only consider the Harlequin dancers of the Eldar to see the truth of this proposition. – A Book of Admonitions for the Legiones Astartes

No man nor beast could best the Wolf-King,No tribe could stand against his armies.Within Russ' kingdom a truceExisted between man and wolf,His court was attended by the fiercest ofWarlords and the most beautiful of maidens. – from "The Saga of the Wolf-King"

S

-Hear me, creature. Let Meros hear this. Your gambit has failed. Whatever these powers are that you call master, whatever irrational choice my brother Horus has made to seek a pact with them, you stand defeated upon the cusp of victory. Do you understand the reason why?-This one. An exemplar of your kind. You were underestimated. The Thirst would have taken you---But it did not. Because as long as one single Blood Angel lives, he will be master of his spirit. He will not let the abyss that lies in the hearts of us all take him into darkness. That is the truth you do not understand, the truth that Horus has forgotten. It is not the descent toward the shadow nor the rise toward the light that makes us superior. It is the endless struggle between the two that greatness of character lies. We are tested, and we do not break. We will never fall! Take that to my brother and tell him!

Three Legions of Marines stand to defend you, sire. All of us will unflinchingly place ourselves between you and the war’s desolation. We are the greatest humans ever born – we are the flame of Humanity where the rest of the galaxy is just the spark. In centuries of warfare, against the vileness of the alien, the lies of the heretic, the foulness of the mutant, I have never known fear – but your silence terrifies me. - during the Battle for Terra

We are disorder, that is true. But that is what we were made to be. The wild and the random. If each Successor embodies the traits of The Great Angel, then that is what the Flesh Tearers are, just as the Blood Swords are his martial prowess, the Sanguine his secrecy, the Flesh Eaters his carnivore's fangs! But the Blood Angels are the melding of all of those things, and that is why I will always envy you, cousin.

We are the slayers of kings, the destroyers of worlds, bringers of ruination and death in all its forms. These things we do in the name of the Emperor and in the defense of Mankind. Let none stay our wrath.

We will spend our lives fighting to secure this Imperium, and then I fear we will spend the rest of our days fighting to keep it intact. There is such involving darkness amongst the stars. Even when the Imperium is complete, there will be no peace. We will be obliged to fight on to preserve what we have fought to establish. Peace is a vain wish. Our crusade may one day adopt another name, but it will never truly end. In the far future, there will be only war.-during the Great Crusade

While vile mutants still draw breath, there can be no peace. While obscene heretics' hearts still beat, there can be no respite. While faithless traitors still live, there can be no forgiveness. – Catechism of Hate Verse I of XXV

I believe in three tenets of battle - firepower, firepower, and more firepower. Should the Omnissiah have wished otherwise, he would not have provided me with such a mighty tool as the Razorback. I long for the day in which my entire Chapter can ride to war in transports such as these, vehicles whose rage can be given voice through their sanctified armament.

T

Forget all your preconceptions of war, of battle-lines clashing in the churned ground. Your mission is to attack before the foe even realises that the war has begun, to strike hard at those vital weaknesses that all armies possess, but that no commander will admit to. Under my tutelage you will learn how to seek out such fragilities and smite them with every weapon at your disposal. Master these duties and I will have nothing more to teach, and you will truly be a Space Marine.

If he wasn't my brother, he'd be a political embarrassment and an impediment to the effective rule of the Imperium. I know what I'd do with him.I'm sure I could demonstrate how, lord.Was that a joke, sergeant?I may have just made a very unfortunate attempt at humour, lord.It was actually quite funny. - Roboute Guilliman and Thiel, shortly before the Battle of Calth

-Their advantage is shock and surprise. Our counter-advantage must be a lack of convention.-Expand.-They know what we are, for they are us. They know the attributes of our armour and our weapons. They also know our tactics and formulae of war, for our beloved primarch has made his codifications available to all his brothers. We never thought we would need to conceal our combat methods from our own kind. Today, we have been disabused of that notion. So we must fight them in ways that they do not expect from us. We must use the unconventional, the improvised and the makeshift. In order to properly honour the combat teachings of Roboute Guilliman, we must cast his rules aside for the day.- Thiel and Marius Gage, during the Battle of Calth

All of creation suffers, young ones. Only in accepting our own mortality can we make a difference. Only in bearing the burden of our failures can we find the strength to go on. Only in detachment from glory, or honour, or jealousy... from life itself can we hope to spare others from grief.

Never before or since have I seen fighting such as I witnessed when that host fell upon the Orks. Seizing the moment, I regrouped my Company and led them once more into the fray, yet there was little work for us, for the greenskins lacked stomach for the fight. Soon we secured the great bastion once more and without further loss. Of the dark brotherhood there was no sign. - on the Legion of the Damned

It cannot be considered a gift, to peer into the Warp and unravel the possibilities of the future that are, that might be, and that must be prevented. Nor can the burden of a weapon, that each of my brothers looks upon with girded revulsion, be called a gift. No, Master, I do not think my psychic prowess a gift... but a tool. Whether by a quirk of fate, or the will of the Emperor, I possess a weapon the like of which can turn the tide, not just in a battle but in the course of history. To withhold it, to flinch from its use or deny it would not just be counter-productive, it would be heresy. But if it is a gift, it is a cruel one. - from the journal of Marneus Calgar, quoting Tigurius, 991.M41

They believe they are too good for the Codex Astartes, these... these wolf-men? Too good for ten millennia of tested and refined battle wisdom? Then let them fight as savages, I say. Let them fight and die.-on the Space Wolves

I have seen my share of death, both honourable and despicable, and yes, I know that war is a brutal, bloody business capable of bringing out the best and the worst in men. This is a harsh, dangerous galaxy, with untold terrors lurking in the dark to devour us, but the minute we turn on our own kind and murder them, we might as well take a blade to our throats.

Without the Codex Astartes, the Imperium wouldn't have survived the aftermath of the Great Heresy. It binds every one of the thousand Chapters of Space Marines together, and gives us a common cause, a connection to the past and to one another. Every Chapter, whether they acknowledge it or not, owes its very existence to the Codex Astartes.

And you are wrong.About what?About the life of a single individual being irrelevant. Every life is vital, no matter how seemingly insignificant. If we forget that, we are no better than the scum out there.-to Inquisitor Namira Suzaku

It was the Allfather who created Leman Russ, the primogenitor of the Vlka Fenryka, and the Allfather who fashioned the Legion that served under his name. For every Legion he created, there was a purpose. Some were blessed with the power to build, or the skill to administer, or the capacity for stealth. Our gift was different. We were made to destroy. Our whole being is destruction. Such was the will of the Allfather. He made us not to construct empires, but to murder them. We were bred to perform the tasks that no other Legion could, to fight with such extravagance that even our brother warriors would shrink from treachery in the knowledge of what we, the Rout, would do to them.